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Although this is my first experience with NHL it certainly wasn’t one that disappointed. The introductory videos and basic tutorials on how the game is played and the fundamentals of ice hockey were simple and effective. This has not only improved my vision of EA with their recreation of sports in a compelling and visually appealing way.

The visuals are quite astounding and pretty believable if you were just watching at a glance, but although the game looks beautiful the AI while I was playing had some small issues, but this is common place within pretty much all games with AI. The occasional team player running into you or just not moving into a position where you want them to be can be pretty frustrating.

You can begin the game if you are new to NHL to learn all the basic movements, offensive and defensive moves within the training camp, if you are new to NHL I would make sure you use the training camp and learn as much as you can before getting ready to go into full games because without knowing what your doing there’s no chance you will win a single game. There are also overlays you can play with which remind you of how to do specific movements and prompts when the said movement is possible. The controls feel smooth and your character your playing reacts just as you’d want him to, just mastering and learning the best ways to create opportunities to score is just like FIFA in that you need both skill and understanding of the game to fully be able to optimise your style of play.

There is the different modes within NHL which makes the game considerably more enjoyable with different avenues to play with for different people. There is the Franchise and Stanley Cup modes you use your favourite team along that current season; with or without the transferring of players and overall management of players that are affected by the real world business in NHL or you can create and pull together your own team. The Threes mode in NHL is fast paced and certainly enjoyable to play with fast paced and a more creative play style with less people means more space for the player to move the puck and create more opportunities to score.

The ultimate team within NHL is pretty similar to FIFA, you collect cards to build up a team and it’s just as fun if not even more fun than FIFA ultimate team, just as there is in FUT in HUT there is offline challenges and online against other players. I believe HUT will expand and develop throughout the year just as FIFA does.

A copy of the game was provided for this review by the developer/publisher

8.8100

Gameplay8

Graphics9

Audio9

Replay Value 9

Value for Money9

NHL 19

Overall for someone who is completely new to NHL I can say for certain that it is a game that I am fully satisfied with and don’t regret a single second spent playing it, It does a fantastic job at simplifying aspects of the game and the multiple difficulty settings allows players like me who are new and veterans to NHL feel comfortable playing but still have some form of challenge. It’s a sport that I knew of but definitely didn’t know how exciting and enjoyable it is to watch and play. So if you are new to NHL pick it up and give it a try.